


Things found while Lost In Space.

by da34amadeo



Category: Lost in Space (1998)
Genre: F/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 17:24:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6966250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/da34amadeo/pseuds/da34amadeo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Lost In space story like no other. I don't believe in blissfully happy endings without a long hard journey in between.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Observation

**Author's Note:**

> My general lust for Gary Oldman and My embarrassing infatuation with Lacey Chabert collided and gave me this. It's tagged underage but Lacey Chabert was 16 when the movie was made so I'm not a complete Pedophile. I remember when the movie came out there were a bunch of stories about the whole thing. The parents in the original were not meant to be a love match but rather a scientific pairing to produce stronger offspring I think. The original Smith I think was meant to be that times idea of a stereotypical gay man . Not a flattering idea whereas Gary Oldman's version I can see as more Pan Than anything else . A smartass but not really as much of a weak coward .Mr Oldmans Smith Is very smart .  
> I don't condone underage relationships by any means but I can see how under this set of circumstances it might happen. Penny's stubborn and smart and worldly yet naive. Just like I was as a girl. In fact at 14 I lost my virginity to a then 27 year old man. I still can't see myself as having been victimized almost 30yrs later. I in my youthful naivety pursued him and eventually he stopped coming around . There was an episode of the original series where Penny made freinds with an alien out of loneliness that really struck me and all of this combined into this little tale ,My longest and pldest and most rewritten work.

Penny cleaned up the bits of broken glass Smith had broken in his rage. He’d been furious at being locked up, trapped here with them. Personally she could empathize. She didn’t want to be here herself. She paused in her task eyeing the still figure apprehensively. He moved restlessly in his sleep, the anesthetic not yet cleared out of his system. He muttered under his breath lost in dreams.  
She could not believe this vulnerable man had tried to kill them. Could not comprehend how someone could bear them such ill will without knowing them. The fact that he had saved her sisters life confused her further. Self-serving as it had been had done it. Quickly and efficiently. Now he just appeared lost. His blue eyes opened unseeing, still trapped in nightmares.  
“You were dreaming.” she whispers softly hovering at his side, the monitor beeps rapidly reporting his increasing his distress. The girl takes his hand, instinctively offering comfort.  
“It’s all gone?” he gasps fighting panic and the drugs in his system.  
“Judy’s filtering your blood just to be sure but it’s all gone. “Her voice is sweet and kind. He pulls away from her grasp. He doesn’t deserve her sympathy. He turns his back to her and she pulls the blanket over him.  
“Try and sleep.” She coaxes and against his will he does.  
The familiar crush of depression washes over him as he closes his eyes. Snippets of his nightmare reoccurring as he drifts. He was terrified of the monster he had become. The black face looms over him hissing its self-loathing. He’d been terrified and helpless against himself. Only able to cry out. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I don’t want to hurt them!”  
“Tooo latteee!!” It screams as he cowers.  
Even later, fully awake he could hear the little voice of Penny distorted with time. “Billy ...Popcorn.. Kissinng.”

Judy stands over him when he wakes again.  
“All of the alien tissue has been removed. As for the rest of it you’re just going to have to snap out of it. There’s no Treatment for bi-polar on ship. I can handle the depression if it’s necessary but it will be up to you to let me know when you need it.” Her expression is blank and her words briskly professional. Still he can feel the anger radiating off of her.  
“Resources are stretched rather thin.” He acknowledges. She nods in answer and walks away.  
” Thank you for saving my life.” She whispers as the doors close behind her locking him in once again.

The darkness pushed at him and he did not have the energy to fight it. He remained locked in the med bay alone, He welcomed then loathed the solitude in turns. They sent the children with rations and strict orders to not interact with him. He feared becoming manic, the monster looming over him.  
Finally, it’s the father that comes. He sits silently as he eats his rations. watching him contemplatively. “I can’t keep you locked up forever. You and I were going to have to trust one another. Do you think we can do that?”  
He did not see that he had any choice, His fate and the Robinsons were permanently linked due to his failure to end them. It was punishment enough for his crime to be at their mercy.  
“At your service and mercy Professor Robinson.” It’s the only reply he can give.  
“Mercy’s earned Smith. “The man chuckles as he leaves the door open and Smith is left to ponder his freedom.  
Once his initial anxiety at being among them faded he found himself restless. He wandered in ceaseless motion. Fighting his inner demons. Sometimes Penny would walk with him. She was frequently task less. Her few duty’s rote and accomplished at her own whims. None of the adults seemed to be overly concerned with her whereabouts as long as reports were filed and tasks complete. It bothered him sometimes their casual attitude towards the girl. Still she was a welcome and unobtrusive presence as he strolled over this new planet.  
At night when he could not sleep he would remember the warmth and compassion in her soft chocolate eyes and it brought him a reluctant sense of peace.  
He thought back to before at her physical. Penny had come in alone precisely on time. Hair spikey and far too much make-up. Her thin arms loaded with jewelry for all appearances the typical modern teenage brat. He’d been surprised she’d been a virgin. Most girls her age weren’t.  
“Do you need birth control?” It was a standard question in this day and age.  
She rolled her eyes at him “I’m leaving Earth in a week. I don’t think I’m gonna need it.”  
“You’re not in space yet. “He observed dryly.  
She shrugged jewelry jangling discordantly. “I’ve got self-control. I’ll pass.” She hopped of the table “I’m done right?” It was more a statement than a question.  
“Done.” He smiled involuntarily. Charmed by the girl’s brash manner. He pushed away the thin thread of guilt at the fore knowledge of their coming fate.

 

All the Robinson children were stunningly brilliant. Above average, indulged and underestimated. Penny absorbed information unceasingly, incorporating it into her own world view. Flexible enough to formulate her own opinions separate from the constant diet of parental dogma she was fed. Will’s innovative thinking was out of his league at the tender age of ten. Judy was a talented doctor, nurturing and efficient.

It was Penny he found himself fascinated by. She drew him out of himself against his will. But the monster still twisted and snarled inside him. He feared it would devour her. He did his best to stay away.


	2. Attraction

He watched them, the two sisters. They danced together laughing. West gawking nearby and the parents smugly watchful. Familial sentiment. It was the older girl’s birthday.   
“Twenty-one years old and never been kissed. “The father teases. As if they had not all endured the sounds of her and the Neanderthals frequent coupling. Said Neanderthal at least having the grace to look ashamed.  
The older sister was ethereal, pretty enough, nothing compared to her more vibrant sister. Penny’s smile lit up her whole being and when she turned that smile on him he was entranced. The movements of her body leaving him breathless and aroused. He turns away before anyone notices. Vibrant or not she was still a baby.  
He existed on the fringes of the family like a distant uncle that visited for holidays. It was Penny that drew him out made him a part of things. He had begun tutoring her after she came to him for help with one of her assignments. The Robinsons continued to educate her and the boy in between parties and trying to save the world.  
With a purpose, as simple as it was, he felt the depression that clouded his thinking lift. Some of the bitterness faded.

Penny sighed staring out at the lush landscape of this place. Watched the wind move restlessly through the trees. A perfect counterpoint to how she felt, adrift and anchorless.  
“Problem number five is wrong.” Smith’s firmly redirecting her to the assignment. He watched as she carefully corrected it. Scowling at her supposed carelessness.  
“I miss home. “She mutters wistfully. Her attention wandering again.  
“Billy ..popcorn kissing .”He whispered idly. The view called to him as well.  
She shrugged looking up at him her mouth bent in a wistful smile.” That’s part of it. It’s beautiful here but it’s not the same. It’s not Earth. The air here it even feels different. It doesn’t even smell the same.” She hugged herself and looked up at him again her dark eyes meeting his questioningly. “Don’t you miss it sometimes?”  
“Sometimes.” He admitted He drug his eyes away from the viewport, this place like home but not, unwilling to give into further sentimentality.  
“Problem number seven is wrong as well.” He coaxed. His hand rested lightly on her shoulder as he guided her thru the equation. He carefully ignored the scent of her hair and the feel of the soft spiky strands that brushed his cheek and the back of his hand. Vanilla and bubble gum.  
She stared up at him, listening to the soft drone of his voice, tracing the contours of his mouth with her eyes. She wanted touch, no matter how fleeting. She had answered the question wrong on purpose just to get him near her.  
Penny felt such it strong connection to the man beside her. He shared her loneliness and her longing for home. She thought he understood her.  
Will would have spoken analytically about the planet’s atmosphere and it components and Judy and her mother would have listened but not really understood. She’d be lucky her father even realized she was speaking to him.   
It amazed her the kinship she found in the older man. She couldn’t imagine finding it with someone her own age. Her friends back home were superficial and somewhat shallow.   
She had seen him watching her out of the corner of his eyes, at Judy’s party. He’d been reluctant to come and it had taken all her charm to get him to attend. She had been crushed when he had turned away from her. It still surprised her how much the slight rejection had hurt.  
Penny could not pinpoint the exact moment she realized her attraction to the older man. One day she had been bemoaning her fate over the loss of the luscious Don West, the next she caught herself tracing the veins in Smiths hands.  
He was not a large man. At least not as large as her father or as broad as West. He was not that much larger than herself. Wiry and self-contained. He was stronger than he appeared, undeniably a man, if you took the time to look.  
He was attractive for his age with sky blue eyes that seemed to look straight thru her soul. Best of all he talked to her like she was an adult. He wasn’t condescending like the others tended to be.


	3. Contemplation

Smith found a quiet place to think. The tension inside him grew exponentially. He existed at the fringes of the family unit. The outsider. Lonely by his own choice. Effort were made however cautiously to include him. Penny especially, it frightened him how rapidly she was becoming important to him. He believed he was growing to love her. The monster inside him howled gleefully at his distress.

Penny sighed in the dark. She and Judy were alone on the ship. Except for Smith of course. Zachary was around here somewhere. She wanted to go to him listen to him talk, words flowing over her like water. He could be harsh, cruel and sarcastic. She didn’t deny it. He was also sensitive and intelligent. She was beginning to think he saw life for more realistically than her kinder, gentler parents ever would.  
She sighed again irritated by the constraints of a supposed girl’s night in. What did they think she would do? Steal the ship? Make a run for home, wherever that was? She smirked to herself. Nope she was merely plotting the seduction of a man far older than herself was all. No big deal really!! She closed her eyes finally, amused by her own whimsy.

Smith let his eyes drift closed reclining against the base of his currently favorite tree. The warm sunshine lulling him into a half sleep. He had not slept well lately. The moment he had been dreading had come. Penny asked him the question he dreaded, had not wanted to answer. He’d been avoiding her ever since.  
“Why did you try to kill us? “She suddenly needed an answer. Despite or really because of her growing attraction to the traitorous man. Torn between the then and now she could no longer imagine hating him. She just didn’t understand how she could love him knowing what he had done. She hadn’t forgotten how he had come into their lives.  
“For money “he replied honestly. He could not lie, not to her. Although he understood there cause the seditionists were no better than the rest. He had no faith in any of it but money he understood. He could live better with it than without, it didn’t buy happiness but in reality it helped. He didn’t understand happiness either. It didn’t seem something he would ever truly have. Money was tangible. Predictable.  
“You met us! You knew us! “Her dark eyes welled with unshed tears.   
“I thought I did.” Now he knew he had been horribly tragically wrong. “I can’t change what I’ve done. I’m not the same man I was.” At least he hoped so.  
He had loathed what the Robinson’s represented. Spoiled, pampered and pretentiously self-important. Buried in his own self-loathing he had not seen them for the well-meaning, intelligent close knit family they were. Ideally misguided but far from perfect.  
“I can only say I’m sorry.”   
To his relief he saw the tension leave her small frame. She nodded her acknowledgement before she turned away.  
Smith’s emotions were equally torn. The monster inside him, self-loathing as always, declared him weak. Had he been? He loved Penny, but it had not been all that long ago she had no value to him, merely a pawn in a game she did not choose. Finally, he pushed it all away. Unwilling to torment himself further.  
The past was the past and hopefully see could bring herself to forgive him. He let himself doze exhausted by his own thoughts.


	4. Forgiveness and need.

Penny strolled idly. Daydreaming. She needed to see him, missed him. It had been weeks since their conversation and in the end she decided she no longer cared. He was who he was and she couldn’t change what had been. Only deal with him now as he was. Her heart wouldn’t settle for anything else.  
She spotted him finally thru the trees and picked up her pace. She stifled a cough, glad she found him. She really was starting to feel a bit unwell.

Penny flopped down next to him making him sigh. “Go away.” he muttered half-heartedly.  
“I just got here!” She pouted “I’ll be quiet. I promise.” She just wanted to be near him, hoped to rekindle the comradery they had developed until recently.  
Smith relented, closing his eyes yet again at least pretending to ignore her. She leaned lightly against him breathing slowly in and out. That’s hardly quiet he thought. It was then that he noticed the heaviness in it. He glanced down at her and noticed she was even paler than normal, cheeks softly pink and flushed.  
“Penny?” he whispered gently and her dark eyes fluttered open tiredly.  
“Zachary, I don’t feel very good.” She complained weakly. Worriedly he placed the back of his hand across her forehead. Her skin burned against his.  
“I believe you have a fever!” he exclaimed. She stirred against him, her eyes growing large and liquid as she gazed up at him. He felt her tiny framed settle more firmly against him. Instinctively he leaned closer, his mouth almost brushing hers. His hand sliding into her hair. He felt his heart lurch in his chest.  
Then she coughed abruptly breaking the spell that he’d fallen under.  
“Sorry.” she stuttered flushing.  
He sighed helping her to her feet. She swayed against his side all of her energy obviously expended. He tucked her against his side even as she coughed again. “Come on let’s get you back to the ship.” He coaxed.

 

“Oh Penny! You are sick! “Judy cried guiltily. She had assumed her sister had been faking it so she could go look for the older man instead of helping her in the lab. She didn’t understand the girl’s attachment to the surly doctor but she supposed it was a good thing Penny had found a friend. She seemed much happier these days.  
Smith helped the girl up onto the bed. The man wore a rather resigned expression.  
“Did she cough on you?” She asked wrinkling her nose in sympathy.  
“At least twice.” He sighed. He left out the fact that he’d nearly been kissing her at the time.  
Judy scanned them both." Her fevers not dangerously high. Just enough to make her uncomfortable. It looks like just a virus. As for you, you’re not sick yet but you will be.” She smiled at him apologetically. “I’m putting you both in quarantine. Hopefully that will keep it from spreading. Treatments hot soup and rest.” She added cheerfully, making Penny roll her eyes.

 

Smith watched the girl as she slept, mulling over the near kiss and cursing the sister’s wisdom at leaving him alone with the girl in her messy little room without even an extra bunk. Did she not remember he was a potential killer?  
She ‘d been so pliant and willing against him and now she twisted restlessly in her sleep. He reached out and brushed her cheek, watching as she sighed nuzzling into his touch “Zachary.” She whispered like she had then eyes fluttering open then settling back into sleep. The sound of his name whispered so intimately from her lips sending a sharp unwilling burst of desire thru him.  
She dreamed of him. Touching, kissing her like he almost had earlier. She woke hours later the fever finally broken. To see him asleep in the soft little chair next to her bed. His hand resting just at the edge of the mattress. She felt so much better than she had earlier. She gently rested her hand over his and felt the fever there. She didn’t have the heart to make him sleep in the tiny fold out that resided under her bunk. She slid out from under the covers stealthily.

 

“Zachary. Come lay down.” Her soft voice pulling him from sleep. She helped him climb into her freshly changed bed. He was too weak to question her, heat radiating off of him. He sank into the lightly scented softness as she carefully pulled the blankets over him. 

“Judy?”  
“Hey kiddo! Feeling better?” Judy addressed the girl with false bravado.  
“I’m ok.” the girl replied hastily “but could you come check on Zachary? I think he’s a lot sicker than I was,” She had come back from her shower to find him shivering and even more fevered than he’d been just a little while before.  
“I’m sure he’s fine Pen. It’s just a flu.”  
Penny shook her head impatiently. “His breathing's funny. I’m worried.”  
Judy sighed putting her report on pause. It would be easier to just go check on the man rather than argue with the girl.  
. “Fine I’ll be right there.”She grabbed her case and headed down the hall. Something nagged at her subconscious. Something Penny had said a few weeks before. The thought triggered by the concern for their stowaway in her little sister’s voice. “Judy how do you know you’re in love?” She asked her voice quietly contemplative. “I don’t know. You just do.’ She turned and faced the teenager. “Do you love West?” Judy smirked to herself. The girls crush had been rather annoying in the early days of her and the pilot’s relationship.  
“I’m not sure. It would be different if we were home.” He honestly wasn’t her usual type of fellow but she had become quite attached. It was definitely more than just the mind blowing sex .” Don’t worry Pen. When we get home they’ll be a line of boys waiting for you. You’ll be famous. “  
The girl’s expression lightened. “Do you really think will get home someday.”

 

All thought left her when she reached Penny’s room. The girl pacing at the foot of the bed. His color poor and chest hitching with his efforts to breath.  
“Can’t breathe “the man gasped as she knelt to examine him.  
“Were going to take care of that.” she reassured him as much as her distressed sister. She scanned him quickly. “Crap.’ she muttered under her breath.  
“Pen Honey go ahead and get the gurney” she directed the girl calmly even while mentally berating herself. He was older and more susceptible than a young teen aged girl. “He’s got pneumonia “  
The girl helped her get to man to the medical bay  
“Help me get him undressed. We’ve got to bring his fever down.”  
“I’m so sorry Zachary!” Penny sniffled. “I didn’t mean to make you sick.”  
He heard the distress in the young girl’s voice, wanted to reassure her, but too weak to do anything but submit to their ministrations. Hands moved over him in concert, cold water making him shiver in turns.  
Judy spoke for him instead “Oh Penny It’s not your fault! You just happened to get sick first is all!”  
“I know. “The girl whispered.  
Judy glanced up at her sister Puzzled by the girl’s expression as she gazed at the man.  
“His fevers coming down” she said finally. His breathing was easing as well. She frowned as Penny reached out and ran her hand across the man’s chest.  
That nagging feeling pulled at her again. “Penny why do you call him Zachary?”  
She looked at the older girl with the calmest expression Judy had ever seen on her flamboyant sibling’s face. “That’s his name isn’t it?’  
Then she slipped away with a final glance at the sleeping patient. Leaving her sister even more concerned than before.


	5. Continuation and contemplation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's where the dubious consent is .You were warned.

She gave him one of her rings slipping it on his finger as he dozed under his favorite tree. “Happy Birthday “She whispered then bent and kissed him gently on the cheek. Then she was gone again as if she had never been, leaving him both startled and oddly touched by the simple gesture. 

She watched him as he worked. The desire bubbling up in her yet again. She wanted him. She needed him. Completely unable to stop thinking about him. Thinking of the feel of his body against hers, never mind that she hadn’t truly felt it. She was entranced with the dark hairs on the backs of his arms and sprinkled on the backs of his hands. Even the size of his feet appealed to her.  
She remembered quite clearly making out with Billy, her boyfriend back home. How good it had felt another body against hers. She was becoming obsessed with the thought of it. Making love to the older man. She craved it like food, a hunger she could not satisfy on her own. Even thru her clumsy inexperienced efforts.

Penny was following him again. It seemed lately she was always there at the edge of his vision. He struggled daily to push away the memory of her slender body leaning against his. Her mouth so close to his he could inhale her very breath. Lost remembering her hands moving over him with Judy’s, helping to heal him. 

She at least endeavored to make herself useful. Helping him catalog the latest batch of samples. At the same time, she found ways to continuously push against his personal boundaries, making him feel clumsy and jittery.  
“Penny don’t you have something to do elsewhere?” he snapped at her head throbbing in an agitated beat as she brushed against him yet again. The monster in his head began to hiss menacingly.  
“Nope “she replied leaning against him. Her lashes fluttering in a teenager’s parody of seduction. “Do you really want me to go?”  
He tried to push her carefully away, aware of his growing impatience, but she only pressed herself harder against him,  
“Zachary Please.” she whispered against his mouth. “I want you so much. I’m so lonely.” Her sweet voice was husky with want and she flexed her hips against his rapidly hardening sex.  
“Penny “He growled warningly pulling her arms from around his neck. Her candy coated scent overwhelming his senses. Then she looked up at him all her frustrated emotion shining out at him so clearly from her dark eyes.  
“Make love to me Zachary.” She begged and his pain and loneliness welled up inside of him and he was pushing her back against the wall.  
He pulled her overalls down roughly as she began to kiss him over and over. Hungry greedy kisses. All reason had left him, his own want taking over. Responding to her finally, desperately.  
He lifted her up and placed her on the med table. He pushed her back and she gasped as he pushed up her snug little top. Her bra scrapping roughly over her hardened little nipples. The flesh of them dark and crinkled. She was splayed in front of him legs open and he backed away only long enough to release himself. He jerked aside the thin fabric of her underwear and pushed into her swiftly.  
He thrust roughly over and over. Pouring all his rage and frustrations into her small body. She clung to him as he cried out. All his emotions purging themselves as he convulsed, forcefully orgasming into her.

He jerked away from her quickly. He could see blood staining the bright cotton between her legs as he backed away. He panicked, angrily snatching up a vial and slamming it into an injector.  
“What are you doing? She asked him her voice subdued as she stared at him. She’d pulled her top back down and her legs still dangled of the edge of the bed.  
“Preparing an injection so you don’t conceive my child!” he shouted at her blind with unwarranted rage.  
“I already did that.” She answered her voice still softly subdued. Her eyes hooded and her head hung forward and he saw the first tears beginning to darken her lashes. The fury vanished replaced with the guilt it actually was. He took her in his arms as she began to sob against his shoulder.

“Oh god Penny I’m so sorry. “He gently stroked her hair. “I didn’t. I never want to hurt you.”  
“I’m so lonely Zachary.’ She cried brokenly. “I just need you to love me. Just for a little while.”  
He dried her tears gently. He knew she hadn’t meant to push. She was so young and inexperienced. She hadn’t known what she might bring out of him. He hadn’t known himself. He was shocked by the force of it. He hadn’t been gentle at all, uncaring of her virginity. The worst of is he had known.  
“I’m so sorry “he pleaded again. “Penny love I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ 

She kissed him again, slower not as frantic as before. He felt her breath quickening. Her nipples hardening against his chest.  
He wanted to erase what he’d done. Make it better for her. He let himself caress her slowly. Letting her kiss, him as he carefully undressed her. She tugged at his shirt, her body warm against his, slowly opening to him.

“Please just love me.” she begged. He felt her heart beating rapidly as her held her close. He slid her panties off of her. Then slipped his fingers inside of her. She was slick and wet inside, tight. She moaned, open mouthed, as he moved them in and out of her. Slowly and carefully. She moaned loader, wrapping her arms around his neck.  
“Oh yes please Zachary “she panted. Her face reddening as she tightened even further around his flexing fingers. She cried out coming as they hooked behind her pubic bone.  
Then he laid her back on the bed before stripping himself. He laid himself carefully over her kissing her as he let himself push into her. Far gentler this time. Her body pliant and welcoming him. 

“It feels so good. Zachary “She cried out as glided inside her. She was so snug around him as her legs came up instinctively wrapping around his waist. Her cries grew louder and more urgent. He would not last much longer and he fought it holding himself back till he truly couldn’t take anymore and allowed himself to spill inside of her.

She moved down the hall quickly. A faint smile on her face. If she had thought, she loved him before now she was certain. The soreness between her legs was worth it. She’d been frightened at first by his roughness. It had happened so fast it was over before she could even sort out all the new sensations. Pain mixed with pleasure. She hadn’t imagined it could be that way. She wished she could talk to Judy about it but then it would all end. Her father might really hurt him.   
After he’d held her and caressed her and it had felt so good. She’d been able to feel every sensation one overlapping the other. She forgot everything except the feel of him. Now she wanted nothing more than to crawl into his arms, where she felt so safe and loved, and stay there.  
“There you are!” Maureen exclaimed. Penny ducking away from the hug she offered.  
“Mom you saw me this morning,” the girl declared.  
“Well I missed you anyway. I feel like I haven’t seen you.”  
Penny shrugged arm crossed in front of herself She didn’t want her mother’s touch. Not so soon after she’d been with him.” I’ve been here. It’s not like I can go anywhere else. I’m going to go take my shower.” Then she was gone leaving her mystified mother behind.


	6. Aftermath

He stroked her cheek gently and she nuzzled into his palm kissing it lovingly.” Penny precious” he whispered teasingly as she smiled back at him. He gave her a final tender kiss. He couldn’t stop touching her. Then her mother called her and she was gone. He took in a shaky breath realizing he was trembling. Reaction setting in.  
After, he had checked her making sure he hadn’t physically hurt her. Even then he had been unable to stop touching, kissing her. She’d been happy and smiling as he redressed her. His Penny.   
A wave of protectiveness and longing swept thru him and he closed the scans with a shaky hand. He took in another shaky breath looking around carefully making sure there was no evidence of their lovemaking. No one would know unless she chose to tell them. He prayed she wouldn’t. He would gladly accept the consequences of his actions. It was only that he could not give her up now. He already longed for the feel of her against him. Thoroughly enchanted and blissfully doomed.

She sighed under the spray of water. Her hands moving lightly over her skin. She didn’t look any different. Other than the soreness between her legs nothing was different except to herself. Even that would fade. The second time had been better than the first. The next time would be even better perhaps. She ran her hands over herself again tracing the path his hands had taken. She couldn’t wait to feel his touch again. Her eyes fluttered close as she remembered his mouth on hers, his hands moving so roughly over her. Fingers stretching her open and the obliterating force of her orgasm ripping through her. Then after his sex filling her as he moved inside her.” Zachary, I love you.” she whispered to herself.


	7. Lost

He opened his eyes as a shadow loomed over him.  
“Have you seen Penny?” Maureen was asking him. He frowned looking at his chronometer sleepily.   
“A few hours ago. “He replied sitting up slowly. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but the sun had been warm and he’d been comfortably sated.  
“She hasn’t come back.” Maureen fussed. Blarp danced around her feet.   
“She can’t have gone far. Blarp’s here.” The little beast never went more than a few hours from its mistress unless frightened or forced. He felt the first stirrings of concern.  
“She showed up on her own.” Maureen’s face creased with her own concern.” I’m getting worried. It’ll be dark soon.”   
“We’ll find her.” He reassured the older woman pushing back his own anxiousness. They had argued, but had made up. Made Love. She would have made it clear if she was still angry with him instead of going off in a snit, wouldn’t she? He pushed himself to his feet determinedly.  
He was certain of it.

 

She was freezing, shivering uncontrollably she hugged herself tightly. The being that had dumped her here had chattered at her expectantly but of course she had been unable to understand it. She was pretty sure the being was male and young, close to her age. She’s not sure why she thinks that. It had been something about the way he’d grown more impatient as he’d drove her deeper into the caves. He’d given her a final angry burst of sound weapon, pressed to her chest, before striding away, leaving her there.  
They had not yet explored these caves and she had gotten even further lost trying to find her way out. Which had been stupid of her she knew. She found herself growing strangely warm. She was aware of the effects of hypothermia. Too tired to pace any longer she sunk to the ground, sleep settling over her.  
She dreamt of her love for him. He could be harsh and demanding. Cruelly sarcastic at times. His outbursts of anger did not frighten her. She believed they were based in fears he could not express. He was intelligent and shared his thoughts and opinions in a way her parents did not. He was kind and compassionate with her.  
She relived their last conversation as she slipped deeper into unconsciousness.  
“I wish we had met ten years from now. I wish I had waited for you to finish growing up. He gathered her up into his embrace. He was absolutely wracked with guilt now that there had been some distance from the first rush of giddy passion.   
But it didn’t happen that way!” Her heartbroken tears crushed him. I need you. I need your love.”  
He held her tighter to himself, brushed away the free flowing tears. “I do love you.” He was hardly aware that it was the first time he’d spoken the words aloud.” I just could not bear it if I were to disrupt the course of your life. If I kept you from who you were supposed be.”   
“They already did that.” she cried bitterly.” We weren’t asked. We were told. I never wanted to leave earth. Leave my home, my friends.”  
She rested her head on his shoulder and her carefully dried the last of her tears. He began to kiss her; He was too weak not to. He needed her as much as she needed him.  
“Make Love to me Zachary.” She whispered as he lowered her onto the grass.

“Smith Smith.” The little alien crooned “Penny Smith Smith!!”  
They had been searching for hours now and full dark had fallen. The temperature dropping rapidly as he followed the creature into the caves, convinced by its urgency.  
He spotted her unconscious form quickly.” Penny honey wake up.” Her skin was icy as he pleaded with her “Penny baby Please wake up.”   
He wrapped his jacket around her as he lifted her from the cold floor. He laid his cheek against hers listening for her breath. She was so cold her lips were blue. He pushed back his panic and ran out of the caves with her. Blarp guiding his way.

“I found her,” he shouted to the others. “We have to get her inside.” Her respirations were slow, the heat of his body not enough to rouse her. He gave her over to her father. The larger man better able to carry the girl, running with her to where Judy waited with a stretcher.   
They transferred her to the medical bed.” God she’s freezing.” Judy exclaimed as Smith dropped the thermal blanket over her. “How did she get in the caves?”  
“I don’t know that infernal beast led me to her.” He was beginning to tremble losing the tight control he had over himself now that penny was safely recovered and being cared for.   
“Wake up Penny. “Smith coaxed Rubbing at her arms trying to coax the warmth back into them. She moaned slowly coming around.   
“Taken.’ She muttered her eyelids fluttering.  
“That’s it. Good girl, open your eyes. “he encouraged as Judy hooked up a warming drip.  
Judy watched the monitors as the girl’s temperature slowly rose. She turned to reassure herself her sister was slowly returning to her proper color. Smith bent over her one hand resting on her cheek almost possessively. Then she noticed the bits of grass entangled in her dark hair.   
She froze. A reading on the monitor catching her attention. “Did you do this to her.” she asked slowly moving to block his access to the girl.  
“What?” he snapped.” I wouldn’t hurt her.”  
“You had sex with her! It’s your semen inside her!” Judy shouted voice shaking in her fury . “Did you think you could shut her up before we found out?”   
“I would never ... It’s not what you think!” he shouted back.  
“Get the hell away from her.!”  
“Zachary.” Penny moaned. Jolted into consciousness by their raised voices.  
“I’m here.” He whispered as he brushed the hair out of her eyes.   
“Back away from her.” Judy warned as she moved forward once again to protect her sister.  
“No.” Penny protested weakly. “Zachary didn’t put me in the caves! A blue man did.”  
“Penny you don’t have to protect him.” She pushed the man away from her. “just tell me the truth!”  
“I am you won’t believe me!” Penny cried her face reddening with her distress as she tried to get up almost falling. Smith reaching out to catch her. “Easy your still weak.” He admonished.   
She leaned into him supporting herself against his bulk. “Watch the Penny vision Judy, please. You make me record everything but you never watch it.” She slid the bracelet from her wrist and thrust it at her sister.  
“He hasn’t done anything I didn’t want him to.” Then she closed her eyes finally, exhausted by her outburst. Smith tucking the blanket carefully around her.

Judy was trembling. Smith stood quiet and calm behind her awaiting her verdict. “I think I’m going to kill you “She ground out behind clenched teeth. She turned giving him a baleful look.  
“Do what you think is best for her.” Smith answered. He was aware of his own manipulations but felt it was necessary. He did not want to lose her. He believed Judy would protect her sister from their parent’s potential wrath.  
“Dammit Penny!” she muttered under her breath. It was pretty clear the girl had seduced the older man. Pushing him till she got what she wanted. She remembered again Penny had asked about love a short time ago. She looked at Smith who stood there in contained anticipation.  
He hand been so gentle with Penny. It warred with the image of him taking the girl so roughly. She sighed at least temporarily defeated.” If I figure out you’ve hurt her I really will kill you!”  
“If I hurt her I Will have deserved it…I do love her.” He confessed.   
Strangely enough Judy believed him.  
“Let’s take a look at today and see if we can’t figure what happened. “Judy suggests Smith nods relief clear in his form.   
“She’s still saying a blue man took her. There’s no sign of head trauma. I don’t think she’s lying.” He held no illusions about his young lover. She could be as manipulative as himself.   
Judy scrolled thru the files blushing as she accidentally witnessed again their lovemaking. “There!” she announced as she found the proper file. The girl had been walking back towards the ship calling her pet when a blue blur came from nowhere.  
She turned off balance, nearly falling. “who are you! What do you want! “the girl cried frightened. The being grabbed her forcefully pushing her forward. Judy blanched realizing her sister had been in true danger. She looked up at Smith and saw the same troubled emotions reflected in his face.  
“I’ll go give this to Dad, tell him what happened. Just the blue man I mean. “She blushed again.  
“I will go. She’s sleeping.” He burned a copy of the last part of the recording. Then hurried away.  
Judy let out the breath she’d been holding. She needed to have a very serious conversation with her little sister before her parents decided to check on her.

“How you feeling?” She asked the girl gently. Penny blinked at her groggily.  
“Where’s Zachary?’ She asked hoarsely.  
“Dr. Smith.” She corrected.” Is showing the blue man to mom and dad.”  
“Not the whole day?” she blurted out flushing. Clearly worried about what her sister had discovered.  
“No Pen just the last bit. “she reassured the girl.  
“I told you Zachary didn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t!” The girl slumped back relived.   
“Oh honey I’m just ..., I’m not so sure about that. You’re still a little girl and he’s not a very nice man. He tried to kill us all not so long ago. You included.”  
“That was before. He’s not like that now.” She answered dismissing her sister’s concerns. She smiled then almost giddy with relief. “I like him. I love him!” The girl’s expression was absolutely radiant with joy.  
Judy let out a sigh of frustration. “I’m not sure what’s the right thing here. I’m scared for you Penny. You’ve still got so much growing up to do. “  
Penny let out her own exasperated breath. “It’s funny how you tell me I’m a child when I’m doing something you don’t want me to but I’m grown when you want something from me.”   
She turned angrily away from her sister leaving the older girl stunned. She had no idea that was how the girl saw the adults around her.  
“I’m sorry Penny. “she whispered.” I’m just concerned that’s all “She winced as she said it. She sounded like her mother.  
“Just be my big sister I don’t need another grown up telling me what to do. I’ve had no one to talk to about it. “Her eyes were starting to fill with unshed tears. Judy hugged her sister Comfortingly.  
“I’ll try Ok don’t cry Pen. I just don’t feel right about it.”   
Penny sniffled miserably. “he doesn’t either. He’s guilty about it. I’m the one who won’t leave him alone. I love him so much. I need him. I’m so lonely without him.’ She sagged in her sister’s arms sobbing finally. “If mom and dad find out they’ll take him away from me. “   
Judy rocked the girl silently even more torn than before. “Oh Penny don’t cry honey will figure something out. “Finally the girl relaxed nodding.

 

“There are others here?’ John asked.” We’ve seen no signs of that. No cities or settlements of any kind, Not even primitive ones. “   
“None the less someone was here.” Smith pointed out.  
“Why’d they take Penny and not you?’ West bristled.” They don’t like you either?’  
Smith ignored him used to the brash young man’s barbs. “I believe it might be feasible to take turns standing guard until we know more. “He suggested.  
West strode forward aggressively. “We should go out and find them!”  
“Where and how?” Maureen asked the picture of calm as always. “We’ve been here for months and we’ve seen no sign of them. Why waste the resources?’  
“We’ll take shifts in pairs, you and me first Don.” The young man unclenched nodding his agreement.  
“Very well. It will be Maureen and I tonight.” Smith stated.” Penny’s fine by the way. Just the hypothermia that’s resolving nicely. “The last added as no one had inquired about the girl.  
“Thank God “Maureen replied almost absently.

 

“So he didn’t mean to hurt me?” Penny asked eyes wide with curiosity.  
“Nope.” Judy was perched at the edge of her sisters bed. Smith on the other offering the girl a cup of cocoa. “The cold doesn’t bother them. He had no idea it would affect you. They use this planet for hunting. The boy just didn’t know what to do with you so he just sort of stashed you away.”  
“They apologized and gave your father some star charts.” Smith continued.” They’re fine with us being here.” He grimaced unhappily.” Which is good because we still don’t know where we are.”  
Judy gave her sister a quick squeeze.” Leave it up to you Pen to find the only other teenager in this end of the galaxy.” Smith gave her a rather irritatedly possessive glare at her statement.  
“Drink your chocolate.” Smith coaxed and the girl complied. Penny was convalescing rapidly and it was taking both their combined skill to keep her contained. It honestly wouldn’t last much longer.  
She watched as the man smoothed the hair out of the girl’s eyes. The man’s gentleness with the younger girl still annoyed her. The sex she had witnessed certainly hadn’t been gentle. Yet penny Seemed to blossom under the man’s attention. The affection between the two seemed genuine.  
She felt a burst of guilt. Penny was so much more content lately. She hadn’t noticed it till now truly. The things the girl had told her in her distress were far truer than she wanted to admit. They didn’t pay much attention to the young woman unless they wanted her for something. She vowed to herself to do better.  
She watched as Penny leaned herself against the older man, snuggling contentedly. Really leave it up to Penny to come out on top somehow. She would hold her silence for her sister’s happiness. She admitted to a small bit of jealousy. Her feelings for her own lover were rather conflicted still. west was kind and fun and she did love him but she would not say she felt complete with him. Penny seemed far happier and well matched than herself.


	8. Pesky brother

“I know!” Will squealed gleefully.   
“Know what squirt?’ she asked absently. She was busily reorganizing the Pennyvision files. Encoding all of her a Zachary’s personal moments. She knew she should delete them but she couldn’t bear to part with them. They were too precious to her.  
“About you and Zachary.’ He sang out the last part teasingly.   
She froze. “What do you mean?” she asked carefully.  
“I saw you kissing him!” He shuddered dramatically.” You were naked. Gross!”   
Penny fights back a rush of panic. Grabbing her brothers arm roughly. “Look you can’t tell mom and dad! They’ll freak.”  
“Ow!” he cries jerking away from her. “So what are you going to do for me?’   
Penny thinks quickly. “I’ll do your homework for a month!”  
He backed out of arm snatching distance. Penny could be vicious when she wanted too. He shook his head.” Mom figured it out last time. Won’t work.”   
“Dessert!! “She blurts finally. You can have my dessert for a week.”   
“For a month! “he shouts triumphantly.  
“Done.” She agrees panic receding. “And don’t follow us around anymore! “she adds.  
“Trust me I don’t want to see That again! “he gives another dramatic little shudder before leaving her alone. She slumps in relief at the crisis averted. Then she smiles rapidly lost in the memory of this morning’s lovemaking. The first time since Judy had released her. Eager for each other now that they were alone again.

 

He was kissing her idly as she lay in the grass. Cupping her breast in one hand he nipped at a nipple playfully thru the thin fabric of her top.   
“I want to ask you something.” He murmured.   
“Okay.” She agreed kissing him.  
“I know I was your first but have you done other things? “He pushed away an irrational burst of pride that he’d been the first to make love to her. She was his thoroughly and completely.  
“Oh!” she blushed “Nothing more than kissing. Nothing naked.”  
“No oral sex?” he’s kissing down her neck and she moans in answer.   
“Me or him?’ she gasps.   
“Either.” He slowly begins to unbutton her tight blouse.   
“Neither. “she moans and he smiles at both her answer and the dark nipple he’s slowly revealing.  
He sucks at it and she moans again. “What about other girls?”   
“Uh Uh.” she answers absently.as he frees the other one.” You’re not Bi-sexual?  
“No.” She gasps the laughs as he turns his attention to her other breast. “Stop I can’t concentrate when you do that!”   
He backs away letting her sit up and catch her breath.  
“So you don’t like girls at all?”   
She shrugs “I never thought about it. I guess if I was I’d know by now. “  
He kisses her again “Would it bother you if I was?"he asks the question carefully pulling away so she can answer.  
“I don’t think so? Are you?" she asks. He’s relived there’s no distress or condemnation in her reply.  
“My first partner was another boy.’ He confirms before laying a kiss in the middle of her bare chest.” But I believe in monogamy. I’ll never use it as an excuse to cheat."   
She lays back into the grass again. “Then I think I’m fine with it, I don’t think I could share you with anyone and your definitely not sharing me.”  
“I wouldn’t want to.” He growled possessively. Then he moved his hand up her thigh to in between her legs. Stroking the fabric in between making her cry out.  
He stripped her slowly savoring the sight and feel of her. “I love you” He whispered against her skin.  
“I love you.” She answered and he lowered himself over her to kiss her eagerly. Neither of them notice Will nearby.  
He moves his hand between her legs again. Fingertips carefully parting her sex. He slips them in and out of her tight little opening, covering her mouth with his as she begins to moan. His tongue slips between her lips to lightly taste her before moving down her body, nuzzling between her legs exchanging his fingers for his mouth.  
“Oh god Zachary.” She cries as he pushes his tongue inside her folds, holding her legs open so she cannot move.  
“Shh baby “he mumbles against her “I don’t want to stop.”   
“Ohh Please don’t!” she gasps. He sucks at the sensitive nub and she shudders. He keeps it up until feels her tighten under him hips flexing up against his grip. She groans out her pleasure between gritted teeth. Her fingertips digging into his shoulders pressing him more firmly against her sex as she orgasms.  
He lets her calm and catch her breath before he lowers himself over her again. She kisses him and her hands tug at his waist before moving over the hard bulge between his legs. She releases him so she can slide the palm of her hand over the ridged shaft.  
“Do you want me too?” She flushes not sure how to ask.  
“Later.” He pushes her hand away the stimulation nearly unbearable. “I want inside you.’  
She lets her legs fall open and he’s gliding into her wetness. “Penny precious.” He moans as he pushes roughly into her. No matter how tenderly it begins it always ends with her pinned beneath him as he rapidly loses control. “Oh just like that.” She encourages him. “Harder please!’ and he can only obey her breathless commands. He comes nearly whiting out.   
After, he cradles her against him. “My beautiful girl.” He whispers, burying his head into her neck.” I love you so much.”


	9. Mom's not an idiot.

“Who’s using all the birth control?” Maureen asks poking thru the vials.  
“Um I am.’ Judy stutters blushing.   
“Well how much sex are you having?” Maureen exclaims. “There should be two more vials here.”   
“Oh I. Um I dropped one.” She gives her mother her most self-deprecating smile. “Clumsy me. I’m sure the other ones around here somewhere.”   
“Let me know when you find it then. That’s not a good thing to run out of.”   
“Ok “Judy answers letting out an inward sigh of relief as her mother moves on to the next bit of inventory without further probing. 

 

“Give it Penny.” Will cackled. Maureen looked up distracted from her reports. Penny sighed and pushed her chocolate pudding over to her brother.   
Maureen watched amused wondering what Penny had done to need to bribe her brother. Penny scowled then smiled as Smith pushed his dessert towards her. She stuck her tongue out at the boy earning an eye roll from her sibling.  
She smiled at the typical family antics. Smith seemed to be fitting in better than she hoped.   
She went back to her reports but soon stopped. Something about the simple family scene nagged at her distracting her repeatedly.   
She watched Penny again as she chatted with the doctor. There was something in the way she looked at him the made her suddenly uncomfortable. She had long suspected the girl had developed a bit of a crush. First it had been Don and now it was Smith. It was sort of sweet perfectly normal for a girl her age. She frowned Over her report thinking. It will pass and when she looked up again they were gone.

 

“You lied to me!!” Maureen fumed as she confronted her eldest daughter.  
“What do you mean mom?” Judy asked startled by the older woman’s hostility.  
“It’s Penny!! She’s the one using all the birth control!” She slammed a disk on the table next to her. “I found the tapes. She hid them but not good enough!”  
Judy crumpled tears springing to her eyes. “I didn’t know what to do! She seduced him and were all stuck here. She’s been so happy and and…” It all came out of her in a jumbled rush.  
Maureen sighed before taking her daughter in her arms.” Calm down Judy. I’m mad but I know my daughters part in this. It’s pretty clear.” She shuddered at the vision of her child pressing the older man against the wall.  
“Christ, at least she was smart enough to use birth control.” She smooth Judy’s hair away from her tear stained face.   
“She says she loves him and he claims to love her. “Personally she didn’t understand her sister’s attraction to the older man. She shrugged. “I think somehow he’s good for her. There so much alike she can’t really manipulate him. He sees through it.”   
“Well I should have seen this coming somehow. “It was still nearly impossible to see her child as a sexual being despite definitive proof of it. She gave her daughter a final reassuring hug.   
“We’ll not tell your father about this for now. I’d like to kill the bastard myself but I don’t want to think of the circumstances of trying to separate them now. I suspect it would cause more problems than it would solve. “  
Judy nodded her agreement. “If for some reason Dad asks about the bc shortage I can tell him I’m treating her for cramps. “Let the male tendency to squeamishness about female matters work in their favor.   
“That’s fine but we need to find a solution to the birth control situation. We didn’t plan on needing it for three. Seems stupid now. “   
Maureen wasn’t happy with her decision but it would do for now. “And don’t let them know I know.” That would hopefully keep the pair on their toes and keep things from her over protective yet oblivious spouse.


	10. A moment alone as Maureen muses.

Penny finished packing her samples with a sigh before allowing herself a rather luxurious stretch.   
“Tired?” Smith asked smiling at the girl.  
“A little.” she replied with an answering smile.” But what I really need is a shower.”  
She gave the nearby river bank an appraising look. They had been sent to catalog samples from the area and it was the first time they had been sent alone anywhere.  
Her smile grew mischievous “I suppose a swim will do. “She started to strip right there on the river bank. He watched as she dove in without hesitation. Enchanted by the crystal droplets of water glistened against her skin.  
“Come on!” she called out as he hurriedly paced the remaining samples away. He undressed quickly clothing discarded rather haphazardly on the river bank. No hesitation himself as he dove in after her. Quick clean slices through the water so he could join her where she stood waiting for him under the cascading fall of water that fed this end of the river.   
He felt himself falling in love with her all over again. She changed as she grew and he loved each new phase of her he encountered. His sweet young lover was more woman than child now. Her and her brother thrived on this new world away from earths pollution and strained resources. He was grateful that he could live this new life here with her and her family. A thought that would have horrified him not so long ago.  
She wrapped her legs around him, giving eager kisses, as he finally reached her side. The spill of water washing over them both. Making them clean and new as they pleasured each other.  
That night he lay awake watching her as she slept secure against his chest. It was the first time they had actually been able to spend the night in each other’s arms. He fought sleep savoring the feel of relaxed against him. He wondered about the future, Their future.   
He wondered if they would ever have the chance to be open. She would be 18 in a matter of months and the had been intimate for well over a year now. He’d begun to hate the secrecy that made these precious moments so rare.  
She sighed in her sleep and he pushed all his concerns away. He tightened his arms around her and she sighed contentedly in her sleep, secure in his embrace.

 

“John?’ Maureen inquires. He nuzzles into her neck placing little kisses against her skin. It’s been amazingly quiet this evening with everyone split into pairs at their various tasks. He thinks they should do that more often.  
“Yes , My love ?” He answers in between kisses.   
“We’re done having children right?” she asks even as she sighs at his attentions. She pushes back a smile at his suddenly quizzical expression.   
“Did you want more? “he asks his tone carefully neutral.  
“No. It’s just I was thinking.”   
“Uh oh, “he teases taking her hand in his to kiss gently.   
“It’s just that I was wondering maybe one of us should have the surgery. Who knows how long well be out here.”   
“I wish I hadn’t put us in this place. “he sighs. The moods fading at the thought.   
She pulls him close again. “You could have never thought all this could happen. “Really the sequence of events still seemed rather unreal to her still.  
“Maybe, “he lets himself burrow into the comfort of his wife’s warmth.  
“You do realize we could become grandparents, never mind parents again, if were not careful?”   
“We can’t possibly be that old.” He protests. He doesn’t even want to think about Judy and Don making a new addition to their little family. Maureen bends down to give him a sweet kiss.  
“well I don’t feel that old.” And the discussion ends for more youthful pursuits 

“The surgery, It’s a good idea.’ he tells her later. It’s permanent he knows but they really are past all that. He might have at one time entertained the thought of a new child when they found the new world but that had only been a daydream long discarded. It was better to look to the future and let the next generation have that dream.  
Won’t is different than can’t but shouldn’t factored in there to somewhere. The whole thing made him a bit sad and hopeful at the same time.

 

Penny sniffled as Judy prepped her mother for the surgery. “It’s my fault. “She had figured out her mother knew about her and Zachary and she blamed herself for the woman’s decision.   
“Oh no baby. I’m happy about this. It’s one less thing to worry about. I wouldn’t be able to do it much longer anyway. Mom’s older than she looks.” Penny only sniffled harder at the thought of her parents waning years.   
“It’ll be nice not to have to think about it, Your Dads still pretty sexy you know.   
“Gross.” Penny declared through her tears. And Judy laughed.   
“This will free up a rather important resource. “Then Judy grinned joining in on her mother’s teasing. “So more fun for me!”  
“Your both gross!! “Penny scowled finally.


	11. Fevered confessions and the last to know.

Penny twisted in her bed restlessly. One minute she was too hot and the next freezing cold. Her body ached and her chest felt heavy. The first sign of a cold that had started this morning was rapidly growing worse. She hadn’t even let Zachary kiss her this morning. Afraid to make her older partner sick.   
She turned toward the wall where she knew he slept on the other side in the room he shared with Will. Suddenly her aching was for him to only be eased by his skin against hers. She struggled out of the nest of her bed dizziness overtaking her in drunken waves.

He woke to unaccustomed heat. Penny’s small body curled against him radiating unnatural warmth.   
“Penny?” he blurted confused to find her nude beside him. “Penny wake up!”  
She did not respond merely coughed weakly congestion thick in her chest.   
“What’s going on professor? “Will asked from his bed.   
Smith rose pulling the girl out of the bed into his arms. Fighting back panic as penny trembled and burned against him.  
“Go quickly and wake Judy!” he ordered before carrying her out into the hall.  
“Judy!” he screamed as the girl appeared sleepily behind him. “I can’t wake her!’  
Alarms wailed as he put her on the bed. “God she’s burning up !!” Judy cried.   
“What’s going on?” Her father cried out behind them. Will and her mother crowding behind him.   
“Out! Everybody out!” Judy ordered authority clear in her voice. “Fuck her fevers 106.!!”  
“What happened?’ She asked the older man as they worked over the girl.  
“Albuterol and steroids for her breathing. I don’t know she had a little cough yesterday. I didn’t think it was anything serious. I woke up and she was next to me like this.” The man’s hands shook as he pulled cooling blankets over her. “   
“it looks bacterial I think.” She muses.  
“Broad spectral’s then?’ He asks as he begins to slap vails into the injector.”   
“Yes. No shit wait!! “She cries “Fuck B series only!!”   
Then he heard it the rapid heartbeat under her struggling one. “He looked up shocked into Judy’s own stunned gaze. “She’s pregnant.’ He uttered the tiny life nestled inside her flaring to life on the monitor.  
“Penny!” he gasped desperately as he slipped a different set of meds into the injector before pressing it home.  
“It will be okay Judy reassured the worried man. They’ll be okay. “They had to be!! Judy couldn’t except no less.

 

John paced back and forth in front of the infirmary “I want to know what’s going on in there!” He shouted anxiously. He’d been woken by a frantic Will only to see Smith disappearing into the medical bay with an unconscious Penny wrapped only in a sheet and Judy ordering them away. It felt like days and not hours they’d been waiting.  
“Please sit down John “Maureen ordered “Judy will let us know what is happening as soon as she can.”   
He sat dejectedly. He was reluctantly putting things together in his mind. Penny’s unlikely friendship with the older man and his wife sudden wish to stop birth control. His daughter’s smiling face as she looked at Smith. It warred with the sight of her limp and pale in the man’s embrace.  
He thinks too on sudden silences and whispered conversations he’d encountered.” You knew!!All of you knew!!’ he whispers.  
Finally, the doors to the bay open revealing a tired Judy.” She’s okay. Just a really virulent infection. I’ve got things stabilized and...”   
“What kind of damned infection?” John barked.  
Judy turned hesitantly towards her father, “Water born I think you know how she loves to swim. “Her expression trembles as she turns back towards her mother. “Mom. She’s pregnant and I’m not sure I can save them both.” She crumples into her mother’s figure.   
“What did that bastard do to my little girl!!” He shouts.   
“John calm down. It’s not quite what you think.” She straightens her full attention on her infuriated spouse.   
“You knew!” He accuses “You knew and you didn’t tell me!! Just how long has this been going on and why didn’t you do anything about it?”   
Her own fury softens at her husbands bewildered look. “For a while now and I didn’t tell you because I knew how it would be. You would have just forbidden her from it and it would have just been a battle of wills between you two just like it always is”   
John wanted to argue he really did but he knew Maureen was correct. Penny was willfully stubborn. Nothing made her want something more than telling her she could not have it. Still they couldn’t just be okay with this could they?   
“What is wrong with you!?She’s only 16! “He mutters.  
“John she’s 18!! “Maureen snaps the last of her patience fleeing. “What is wrong with you! We’ve been on this planet for almost two years’ john!”  
He stared at her still in shock. Surely that much time had not passed. “But she’s still so young!” he protests.   
“John think a minute. She’s not a child anymore. We, we just ripped her away from everything she knew and loved and just told her to deal with it. What did we expect her to do fall in love with the robot?”  
“It wasn’t supposed to be this way. It was supposed to be a whole new life. For us. For everything. “He sighs.   
Maureen takes pity on her well-meaning and clueless husband Wrapping her arms around him “It is John just not the one we planned. Maybe this is better somehow. Judy joins in and hugs her father.  
“Where there’s life there’s hope dad.”  
Don pats him on the back.” If it makes you feel better, I didn’t know either.” He had largely and for once remained silent choosing to keep will calm in the heat of things.   
“Well I knew! “Will chimes in “I saw them kissing once EWW!!” The boy shudders and his father can’t help laughing at the boy’s dramatics.   
“I still want to kill him.” John mutters into his wife’s hair.  
“I know but it’s too late .” she loves him.’   
“It will be okay Dad; He loves her too. “Judy reply’s.  
“I still might kill him. “  
“Maybe later .” Don suggests helpfuly.

 

“For now they’re both stable.” He glances up at the monitor reassuring himself yet again.  
Judy smiles The man hadn’t left her side once. “You really should go and get some rest. “  
“Will I need rest before my execution?” he asks.   
Judy laughs quietly “No execution so far. I won’t be able to keep the other out for much longer though.”   
“In a little while.” He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the monitor that showed his miniscule daughters life signs. He was fascinated with the little flittering heartbeat. He couldn’t bear to tear himself away from her mother’s side either. 

 

She woke with a hazy memory of crawling in next to her lover. “Zachary?” she called out.  
“I’m here. Don’t try to get up. “She realized she was in the medical bay as he appeared helping her to carefully sit.   
“How did I get here?” She asks  
“I woke up and you were next to me.” He was embarrassed by the emotion that chocked his words. So much could have been lost!!  
“The baby!” she gasps suddenly.  
“Is fine.” He reassures her. “So you knew?”  
She nodded warily. “I was starting to suspect. I was going to see Judy in the morning.” How much trouble are we in?” She asks brow crinkling worriedly.   
“Me and not you. “He tells her firmly “And I don’t know Judy hasn’t let anyone in yet.”  
“Are you mad?” she asks uncertainly.  
“No why would I be?” He’s feeling amazingly serene, honestly.  
She remembers there first time and his furious reaction. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I’m not sure how it did.”  
He shrugs. “Maybe it was meant to be. Injections fail sometimes.” He takes her hand gently. “I do remember how I was before and I’m sorry. It was just guilt for what I’d done. This isn’t the same thing.”  
“The guilt and the responsibilities on both sides I thing. Stop making it all your fault. I’ve made my own decisions. We’re in this together I think. “She squeezes his hand reassuringly. “Especially now. Is the baby really ok?”  
“She.” He corrects and turns the monitor to face her. “As far as we can tell She’s perfect. “He takes her on a tour of their child. “There’s her heartbeat and her brain stem and her spine. She’s about eight weeks I think.”  
“Wow! “Penny gasps.” She’s perfect!”  
“I know. “Smith grins before giving her a kiss. “I love you.”  
“I love you too. Wow!” She cries again giving him a radiant smile and making her sister laugh.   
“Ok guys cut it out “She sighs nervously.” I’m going to let Grandma and grandpa in now.”   
Zachary turns to face them still holding Penny’s hand as they all file inside.  
“I still want to kill you.” John greets the man.   
“Dad!” Penny protests.  
“If I survive your wife and daughter. “he replied. “I don’t begrudge you the sentiment. I would have done it in the beginning.”  
“That’s enough boys.” Maureen scolds.  
Then John sees the tiny image on the screen. “Wow.” he breathed wondrously. It was all he could think to say as Penny laughed happily at him.  
“That’s it?” Will asks pushing his way through all the adults to get a look.  
“Only thing on the ship smaller than you squirt.” Penny declared and then her eyes were beginning to drift shut.   
“Ok everybody out.” Judy orders Relived that everyone seemed to have accepted things without bloodshed. “You too Smith OUT.!”  
He complied with one final glance at his sleeping partner and child.


	12. Dreams of the future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is it for now .It seemed like a good place to stop.I have quite a bit more floating around in my head but this is all that's written down. I think there are a million mistakes I didn't catch but I've been typing it all up off and on for months. I'll hopefully fix it all before I add more some day.

He sleeps in her bed that night dreaming of the future.  
In the dream he walks holding his daughters trusting hand as they stroll thru a lush garden. There are both earth plants and vegetation from this foreign new world.   
He tells her all the names for the things that grow there and she looks up at him with her mother’s eyes filled with the most complete trust he’s ever known.  
The air is fresh and clean reflecting in the girl’s bright eyes and pink cheeks. The water trickling from a nearby stream is pure and clear.  
He can hear the happy sounds of family nearby and all he can feel is joy.


End file.
